Movida Sydney, Surry Hills

This blog has been in drafts for weeks! I finally have some free time (not much unfortunately) to finish it.
We heard Movida Sydney was planning an opening in October 2012 and I somehow managed to secure tables the first weekend it was open, we were actually one of the first few customers! We’re big fans of Movida Bar De Tapas and consider it our top restaurant so far. 🙂

For those who don’t know Movida is a Spanish restaurant headed by Frank Camorra based in Melbourne.

The Grilled Chorizo and Padron Pepper Sandwich featured above was the first tapas to arrive and lived up to all my expectations from the Melbourne counterpart, full of flavour yet easy to eat and fresh ingredients. The restaurant itself is brand new, cosy and filled with interesting decor.

Complimentary Bread & Olive Oil

Cantabrian Anchovy with Smoked Tomato Sorbet

I’d been looking forward to this dish every since hearing so many people raving about how great it was, I can happily say it didn’t disappoint. The anchovy was interesting, creative and not overly powerful in its taste yet full of flavour. Miss K especially liked the taste of the tomato sorbet which we thought was unique and a great idea.

Goat’s Curd & Quince Cigar

This was another interesting creation unique to Movida, the goats curd inside was rich and creamy without overpowering the quince outer layer. Miss K had most of the dish so I didn’t get a great taste, she enjoyed it quite a bit so I can imagine it must have been delicious.

Smoked Prawn with Piquillo Peppers & Bortagga

This was definitely one of my favourite tapas of the night, the prawns tasted great and the peppers and smoky flavour were so delicious I could happily have eaten a bucket load of these in one serving. The peppers give the prawns a slightly spicy taste which I loved, and the prawns were juicy and fresh.

Manchego Custard & Truffle Consomme

I’ve recently had this minor craving for anything with truffle in it, I really love the taste of truffle so I went with this tapas and loved every piece of it, there was a very strong truffle taste and the custard was creamy and smooth. This is one of the few new and interesting dish which Movida Sydney offers that Melbourne doesn’t.

Air Cured Wagyu with Truffle Foam & Poached egg

Out of all the dishes we had for dinner, the air cured wagyu was the only dish we had tried before in our last visit in Melbourne. Miss K loved this dish so much (it’s probably her favourite dish EVER) and not ordering it was out of the question. This time we knew how to eat it and definitely enjoyed the creamy egg goodness and wagyu beef which is hard to match. (Not to mention the truffle!)

Beef Cheek in Pedro Ximenez & Cauliflower Puree

I wanted to try something different tonight so we broke off from our usual pattern of ordering piles of small tapas and went for a larger (relatively larger) dish than usual. We were both happy with this dish as the beef was melt-in-your-mouth tender and the cauliflower puree and pedro went very well together.

Three Sorbets with Fig Bread

To finish off our dinner we decided to go with the three sorbets, Miss K always talks about the pear sorbet dessert that we had in Melbourne. Unfortunately that wasn’t available but when she figured out that they had cantaloupe, pineapple and honey macadamia sorbets available she ‘insisted’ that we try them. A nice and refreshing way to finish the meal. 🙂

If you ever choose to visit somewhere we recommend definitely check out of Movida Sydney as we consider it one of the top restaurants in Australia simply because it’s such a relaxing atmosphere with food on par with fine dining restaurants, we’re just hoping now that the Sydney restaurant expands their menu to incorporate the vast menu that Melbourne has on offer.